Letter-box



- (No Model.)

TQ R. LOWERRB.

LETTER BOX.

Patented May 15,1883.

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mmwg" i @WJ y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS R. LOWERRE, OF MOT'IJHAVEN, NEW YORK.

LETTER-Box.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 277,586, dated May 15, 1883.

Application filed November 23, 1882. (No model.)

Mott Haven, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Boxes, of

.- which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for notifying the public7 after each collection of the mail from a 'letter-box, of the hour when the next collection will be made, and for controlling the4 attentiveness of the mail-carrier by making it appear whether or not he neglected to make the previous collection at the proper time indicated on the timetable, according to the rules of the post-office, and for protecting the time-table from injury by heilig defaced or washed oft by rain. An invention for the same purpose was patented to me by the United States Patent Oi'iice May 11, 1880. In public use of the said invention it has been found expedient to leave the timetable permanently in the box and to exchange at each collection only the card or portion o' the time-table which indicates the hour of the next collection. It has been found, however, that, owing to the differences in the changes of the temperature between the exterior atmosphere and that inclosed in the box, the glass sweats7 as itis termed; or moisture condenses upon its inner surface, thus dampening the face of the time-table, which thereby in a short time becomes uneven, moldy, and partly or wholly illegible. The location of the cardpocket, as at present arranged, in the upper edge of the time-table pocket, exposes the card to rain when the door is opened by the collector in wet weather, 'and the friction produced by constant changing ofthe tag or card against the inner surface of the glass abrades the latter, and in time makes the tag less legible.

The object of my present invention is to rcmove the aforesaid objections.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a front view of an ordinary street letter-box provided with my present improvements. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line wof Fig. 1, and drawn to a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a front view of a portion ot' the same and of the stationary time-table, showing the removable tag. FigAis an edge view -ary time-table.

of the door, partly in section, through the-line y y of Figs. 2 and 3, the said Figs. 2, 3, and 4 being` drawn to the same scale. Fig. 5 is an inside view of the door, drawn to a smaller scale-than any ot' the previous figures. Fig. 6 is a detail cross-section-of a modiiication of the air-tight pocket for containing the station- Similarletters of referenceindicatelikeparts in the several figures.

A is the box. B is the door ofthe same, provided with a square opening forming a frame, Which is rabbeted on the inside to receive the glass plate O, behind which the time-table D is'permanently placed, and covered on the inside with another glass plate, E. Between the edge of the outer pane, C, and its contactsurface with the frame or pocket b of the opening in the door is inserted a rubber or-other water-tight packing, o, and similar packings, d e, are inserted between the two glass plates C and E and behind the inner plate, E, respectively, after which the solid backing-plate F, fitting the perimeter of the said rabbet, is inserted from the inside, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and secured to the door by screws or other suitable fastening, said plate F, when so secured, pressing upon the inner packingring, e, and thus compressing the three packin g-rin gsand the two glass plates together in the rabbet b, so that no moisture can ever enter between the said glass panes to damage the time-table'n D. Instead of the three separate packings c d c, the same eiiect may be produced by stretching a rubber band completely around the edges ot cach of the glass plates.

In the metallic back plate, F, opposite the lower right corner of the opening of the timetable, a recess or pocket, f, is formed for receiving the tag G, indicating the time for the next collection, which tag is slid into the said pocket or recess from the side, aportion of the plate F being out away atf to give access, by the thumb or finger of the collector, to a slot, g, in the outer end of the tag Gr, forwithdrawing the same from the said recess or pocket IOO and when the plate F is secured to the door the said frame H prevents the tag G from coming in contact with and Wearing the inner surface of the pane E. In 'order to make the tag G durable and prevent the possibility of defacing the figures and letters thereon, the same is made of a piece of metal and the figures stamped through the same, in the manner of an ordinary stencil-plate, and the back of the recess f is painted with a different color, contrastin g with'the color of the tag, so as to make the stencil-ligures plainly visible from the outside.

Instead of making the Water-tight time-table chamber in themanner above described, the same may be iliade, as shown in Fig. G, by forming it of' a glass vessel or iattened bottie, I, suitable to receive the time-table, and having but one side opening, through which the said time-table maybe inserted, which opening may then beclosed by a tight-fitting cork orrother stopple, fi. It will be seen that the pocket for receiving the tag G, and which is covered by the plate-frame H, forms a part of the back' plate, F, and is entirelyindependdent of the glass plates C E and-the rabbet b.

It should be observed that the lower corner ot' the time-table must be out away to form a suitable opening opposite the pocket fto allow of reading the tag G.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a letter-box, a time-table chamber visible through an opening in the said box, said v ner pane, C E, and an air-tight connection between the said panes at their edges, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

Y 2. The combination, with a letter-box having a rabbeted opening, substantially asdescribed, oi' a time-table chamber formed of the panes C E, and air-tight packings c d e, and the back plate, F, for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination, with a time-table chamber constructed substantially as described, and visible through an opening in the letter-box, of the back plate, F, provided at its lower corner with a pocket, f, for receiving and exposing tlie tag G, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. In a letter-box, the combination, with a door, B, having a rabbeted opening and an airtight time-table chamber Within the said opening, substantially as described, of the back piate, F, provided with the tag-pocket f, and

the frame H, secured to the said back plate in front of the said pocket, for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony. thatI claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 20th day of November, 1882.

THOMAS R. LOWERRE. 

